React Hooks: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Hooks, introduced in React 16.8, have been transformative in the way React components are written, aiming to replace class components by addressing their composability challenges. They excel in encapsulating state and sharing logic, significantly simplifying APIs for libraries like react-router and react-redux, as demonstrated by the reduced complexity in refactoring from the connect API to Hooks. Despite their advantages, such as reducing code verbosity and providing a cleaner API, Hooks present challenges, particularly with the dependency array in useEffect, which can lead to pitfalls if not managed correctly. This necessitates careful memoization and order execution to avoid bugs, often requiring additional Hooks like useRef, useMemo, and useCallback. While the pros of Hooks, including less code and an elegant design, outweigh the cons, they are not without difficulties, especially in managing the dependency graph and closures, which can be unintuitive for developers without prior knowledge. The document concludes that while Hooks offer a compelling simplification over previous methods, a deeper understanding is required to fully leverage their potential without encountering common pitfalls.